Supporting Patients and Families Through Honesty, Autonomy, Reflection and Empathy

Individual and Group Training For Physicians, Health Care Professionals, and Students of Medicine, Health Sciences, and Other Fields

Having end-of-life conversations is hard.

A lot is at stake. These sensitive conversations with patients and loved ones in a fragile state are remembered vividly. You know difficult news will be hard for them to accept, you fear crushing their hopes, and you don’t want them to feel abandoned. Yet, chances are your training did not prepare you.

We can help you and your patients.

The Need

It can take many years to learn how to do it well and to feel confident. It is difficult to provide the clear information patients and families need while demonstrating compassion and alleviating fear.

Made possible with generous support from The Memorial Foundation, The Alive Institute Simulation Lab can accelerate the learning process for health care professionals and lead to better experiences for patients and families.

A goal is that the Simulation Lab will benefit a broad spectrum of health care professionals, and ultimately be accessible to the community at large.

Learning Objectives

Learn by doing: Work through emotionally (and sometimes medically and ethically) challenging conversations in a safe, lifelike setting

Questions/Appointments

A Great Challenge – and the Opportunity to Create Meaningful Change

In the report Dying in America (September 2014), the Institute of Medicine identified the need for greater understanding – by both the public and care professionals – as one of the greatest remaining challenges in the delivery of high-quality end-of-life care. They recognized deficiencies include insufficient attention to “developing clinicians’ ability to talk effectively to patients about dying.”

"Understanding what lies ahead can profoundly affect patients’ quality of life — and death. If they underestimate their life expectancy, they may forgo helpful treatment. If they overestimate it — the more common misperception — they may agree to tests and procedures that turn their final weeks and months into a medical treadmill.

"Frank discussions don’t disrupt the bond between doctors and patients… They do increase the likelihood that patients receive the end-of-life care they prefer, and leave survivors better able to cope with grief.”